Challege: UntitledBy: Tammy
This is an old old fic that I started writing waaaaaaaaay back when in the first season.
Challenge
1. Post-Destiny a few months later, Max is with Tess, and Isabel with Michael. At least they are trying.
2. Liz, Alex, and Maria are all trying to move on with their lives, and forget about their ex's.
3. This becomes extremely difficult when Liz discovers she's pregnant. (Max's of course)
4. She decides not to tell Max and tries to decide what to do, and how to hide her symptoms. She does however tell Maria and Alex.
(Ok this is where is gets a little strange. Well stranger than teenage girls pregnant with alien babies.)
5. For some reason something goes wrong during a confrontation with the two groups, one of the podsters gets angry and use their powers to inflict harm on some poor object. something goes wrong and they find themselves in the past. When they are in about 4th or 5th grade.
6. They don’t realize this until they enter their respective houses, so they are seen and known by their past selves and families.
7. Liz, Maria and Alex are trying to hide Liz's pregnancy from everyone.
8. They all have to learn something from their former selves. This has to bring together at least Max and Liz.
Sorry if this is too specific! Feel free to mess with how they get to the past (#5) I was just giving a suggestion mostly. This is what comes of sleep deprivation and way, way too much caffeine. It was in my head for some insane reason, I knew I could never write it, so here it is. Now I am going to stop babbling and get my strange self off the net.
Daized
* * * Liz sighed as she saw Max and Tess walking down the hall hand in hand, followed by Michael and Isabel. Even three months later, it still hurt to see them together. As the foursome walked closer towards Liz, she turned away from them, facing her locker. She stared at her geometry book until the obscenely bright orange book became a blur as she fought the tears that threatened to fall. ‘No, I won’t do this. I won’t cry. I made a promise and now I have to keep it.’ Liz thought to herself as she reminded herself of the pact she, Maria, and Alex had made. The three had vowed to move on and not to think about the other four aliens. Alex and Maria never even mentioned Isabel or Michael’s name since the day they made the pact.
Liz drew in a deep breath, trying to calm herself and drive away the tears. Once fully composed, she grabbed her history book. The next class was one that she truly dreaded-it was the one that contained all six of them. A month after the incident at the cave where the foursome’s destiny had been revealed, Liz had gone to her counselor and changed as many classes of hers as possible. She knew that there was no way she could bear to see Tess and Max together as lab partners in biology. Fortunately, her counselor had been very accommodating and she had been able to change all of her classes with any of the Czechoslovakians, with the exception of her history class. Liz was glad, however, that Maria was in it with her and that Alex had also been transferred into it later in the year.
“Liz! Hey chica, how’s it going?”
Liz smiled when she saw Maria. She was so grateful to Maria-she had been like a pillar of strength to her in the passing months. When she had run away from Max that day-she had immediately gone to Maria. And Maria had sat there, comforting her as Liz told her everything. Liz knew that Maria must have been heartbroken by the news, but she didn’t show it as she tried to calm Liz down. She had even called Liz’s mother and told her that Liz would be spending the night so that Liz wouldn’t have to explain her appearance to her mother. Then she had called Alex up and the three of them had spent the entire night talking and consoling each other over a gallon of ice cream.
But now that Liz thought about it, she didn’t remember ever comforting Maria. All she remembered was Maria comforting her and Alex. Liz suddenly felt selfish as she realized that she had been so self-absorbed in her own pain at the time, that she hadn’t even noticed that Maria might need comforting. She stared at Maria’s happy face, only now realizing how strong Maria truly was for going through the entire destiny ordeal basically on her own.
Liz was pulled out of her thoughts by Maria. “Liz? Hello? Are you all there?” Maria joked.
“Huh? Oh yeah. I’m fine. I was just thinking about my history report.”
“Jeez, Liz. You’re always thinking about school. I swear, we need to find you a guy to take your mind off of homework.”
Liz winced at Maria’s remark, and Maria immediately regretted it. “Oh, Liz. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”
Liz held up her hand to stop Maria. “No, it’s okay. You didn’t mean anything by it. And besides, we made a pact, right?” Maria nodded somberly. “C’mon, let’s get to history.” She looped her arm in Maria’s and pulled her down the hall.
~*~
“Hey-Deluca, Parker. How are my girls doing today?” Alex greeted Maria and Liz.
“Great. Guess what I did this weekend.”
Alex shrugged his shoulders at Maria’s comment. “What?”
Maria sat down next to Liz and Alex and raised her foot. “Ta-da!”
Alex and Liz rolled their eyes. “Let me guess-you went shoe shopping. Again.”
Maria smiled. “Hey, don’t roll your eyes at me. Now that I’m the lead singer in our band-I have to have the right accessories.”
“Maybe if you spent more time rehearsing and less time shopping for accessories, I wouldn’t be rolling my eyes so often.”
“I don’t need to rehearse. I’m a natural.” Liz laughed as Maria and Alex continued to argue about rehearsal.
Across the room, however, another trio weren’t laughing.
“They look happy today, don’t they?” Max asked.
“Maxwell, you’re doing it again.” Michael sighed.
“Doing what?”
“Max, you have to stop it already. We know that you miss her, we miss them too. But-”
“But what, Isabel? Why can’t we be friends like we used to? You said it yourself, we miss them.”
“Yeah, we miss them. But we also hurt them. How do you know they even want to be friends with us? I mean, I tried to,” Isabel paused and looked down at the desk. “I tried to talk to Alex last week and he wouldn’t even look at me. It’s as if they’ve moved on and forgotten all about us. As if the last couple of months never happened.”
“Look you guys, we have to be rational about this. We have a destiny that they just don’t fit into anymore, so obviously they’re going to get hurt if we try to include them. And they’re not just going to get hurt emotionally-you heard what your mother said. There are other things out there that are going to try and stop us from our destiny. And the only way we can spot them is from the ‘evil within.’ Hello-evil within. I think that just might be a clue that they aren’t exactly going to be friendly.” Michael snapped.
“So what are you saying? That we just continue along with our little charade? That we continue to ignore them and they us? We can’t keep on doing that.”
“And why not? Because you miss them? Is that it?” Michael stared at Isabel until she looked away.
“Don’t tell me you don’t miss them too.” Isabel whispered.
“I’m not saying I don’t miss them. It’s just...by hanging around them, we’re putting them in danger from whatever things are out to get us. So it’s stupid and selfish to get attached to them or want a relationship with them. It’s stupid because...”
Max slowly tuned Michael out. After all, Michael had been saying the same thing for the last couple of weeks, so it wasn’t like he was going to miss anything new. And he knew that Michael wasn’t saying it for Max or Isabel’s benefit-he was just trying to convince himself that he should stay away from Maria. Max felt partly bad for Isabel, because Isabel was trying to make their relationship work. She reminded him slightly of Tess. Both Max and Tess’ and Michael and Isabel’s relationships seemed to be pretty one-sided, with both of the females trying to make it work. And while Tess now had the proof that she and Max were meant to be, it still didn’t change the fact that Max still wanted to be with Liz. And the same with Michael and Isabel. No matter how hard Isabel tried, Michael inevitably still saw her as a sister-like figure and wanted to be with Maria.
Max almost laughed at the irony of it all. Michael, who had been so set in not getting attached so that he could find home, now was more attached to Maria than he had ever been. He doubted if Michael and Isabel had even done more than kiss. However, he knew if he asked Michael if he was happy with the way things were, Michael wouldn’t answer him directly. He’d just say the same thing he’d always say, “Hey, it’s our destiny.”
Destiny. Max had looked the word up in the dictionary one Friday night. Its’ definition was the seemingly inevitable succession of events. He had stared at the word ‘seemingly’ all night long.
The bell rang and people scurried to their seats. “Okay, listen up, people.” The teacher rapped his pencil on the desk. “I’ve decided to take a different approach to teaching today.” Simultaneously the class began to groan and moan. “Quiet, quiet. Anyway, there is a famous proverb that deals with history. Does anybody know what it is?” He looked around the room for raised hands. Seeing none, he continued, “Okay, seeing that no one does, I guess I will have to enlighten the masses for the day. ‘If you don’t learn from history, you are doomed to repeat it.’”
Maria leaned over to talk to Alex as a few snickers echoed through the room. “Jesus Christ, is this guy for real?” Alex started to smile, but was cut short by the teacher.
“Excuse me, Ms. Deluca. I see, you are acquainted with the proverb. So why don’t you give us an example that exemplifies it?”
Maria made an audible gulp and looked to Liz, whose eyes were wide. “Um...well, I guess Napoleon the third sort of exemplifies it.”
“And how is that?”
“Well, he used the same tactics as Napoleon, even though they were outdated. So he failed to learn new military tactics from others around him, thus leading to his downfall because he refused to look at the mistakes of others and improve his own army.” Maria looked around the room to find everyone staring at her and the teacher gaping. She gave a small smile while the teacher composed himself.
“Uh...yes, very good example. So, anyway, I think we should use today to look back on our own histories and see how we can benefit from it. If everyone will pair off in groups of six or eight, with equal number of sexes, I’ll explain your projects.”
Students began shuffling around the room and rotating desks into groups. Liz gave Maria a slight punch in the shoulder. “I had no idea you were such a history buff.”
Maria gave her a toothy grin. “I had no idea there was a Napoleon the third.” Liz and Alex both laughed. “C’mon, let’s go find a group.”
Alex looked around the room and found that almost everyone was already in a group. Except for the three aliens. He turned around and saw that Maria and Liz had noticed as well. “Well, I guess this will be the first test of our pact.” He noticed that both Maria and Liz had become interested in their notebooks. “They’ve moved on with their lives and so have we. So we shouldn’t have a problem being in a group with them, should we?” Maria and Liz nodded, but Alex knew that it was going to be an extra long period.
The trio, led by Alex, headed over to the other side of the room towards Max, Michael, and Isabel. “Hi. Do you guys mind if we join your group?” Isabel nodded, Michael gave a shrug, and Max looked almost in pain. He doubted he could make it through the period without breaking down and asking Liz to forgive him and screw destiny.
“Class, the first thing to do is to get to know the people in your group. We’ll spend the next week in these groups, so I hope you all chose a group that you can work well in.” The teacher began passing out worksheets to each of the group. “These worksheets will help you to interview each other so that you get a better feel for who the people in your group are and where they come from. I’ll explain more of the project in the upcoming days. The important thing now is just to get to know your group.” The teacher returned to his desk and began grading papers.
“Well, this will be a barrel of laughs.” Maria said dryly.
“Let’s just try to make this as pleasant as possible. We’re only in these groups for the week so-”
“Oh shut up, Max. You may be the cloned leader of some alien planet, but you aren’t the boss of me-so I don’t have to listen to your crap anymore.” Liz snapped. Max looked like he had been slapped and Maria began to giggle. Liz clapped a hand over her mouth. She didn’t know what came over her. It was as if the last few weeks of bottled up emotions had been finally released. Then she realized that she didn’t have a reason to feel bad for telling Max off. In fact, she had a right to be mad. She uncovered her mouth and high-fived Maria.
Isabel was shocked. What happened to the kind little waitress that used to make gaga eyes over Max? “Liz, I don’t know what’s come over you. What-”
“Same thing goes for you, Ice Queen.” Alex interrupted. “We’re in this group with you because no one else was left. And right now we’re supposed to be interviewing each other, but I think I speak for Maria and Liz when I say that we know more than we want to about you guys. So, if you don’t mind, we’re just going to sit here and talk amongst ourselves. As for the project-you guys can do half. We’ll do the other half and then we’ll turn it in together.” Alex turned away from the aliens and was met with smiles and approval from Maria and Liz. They way he figured it-the three of them really only had two options. Either mope around and pine after the aliens for the rest of their lives or move on. Someone had once told Alex that the opposite of love was hate-but Alex felt that the opposite of love was indifference. Because in order to hate someone, you had to obviously care enough about them in order to put forth the effort to hate them. And Alex knew he wasn’t quite ready to stop loving Isabel and there was no way he could feel indifferent towards someone he loved-so that left one option. Hate. He knew he didn’t hate Isabel, but if he could put up a facade long enough, maybe he could convince himself that he wasn’t hurting.
Alex, Maria, and Liz started up a conversation about the band again and before they knew it, the bell had rung. After they had gathered their things, Maria pulled Alex and Liz aside.
“Okay, what the hell has gotten into you two? I’ve never seen you snap at Max like that before, Liz.”
Liz gave a sheepish grin. “I don’t know. It just sort of slipped. I think it’s because I’ve kept my emotions all pent up and they finally needed to release. I’ll tell you one thing though-it felt great.”
“Yeah, I know what you mean, Liz. As much as I miss them-I’m still angry at them. It’s not even like their destiny told them that they had to cut us off completely from their lives. All it said was that they were destined to be together. Big deal. But they didn’t even talk to us. Or even explain what was going on. If Liz hadn’t told us about what happened in the cave-would they have even told us?”
“So what are we going to do? Spend the rest of high school as enemies, throwing out mean remarks at them?”
“No, of course not, Maria. Because then we wouldn’t be moving on. I’m just saying that we were totally justified in our comments today. That’s all.”
“Yeah. We were totally justified.” Liz echoed, even though both she and Alex didn’t feel they were. Instead of feeling empowered or vindicated, they just felt bad. All they had accomplished in history was a few snide comments. Nothing had changed, and they still missed Max, Michael, and Isabel.
Maria seemed to sense their feelings. “Justified, huh? I’ve known you guys since elementary school and I know you aren’t feeling justified. You’re feeling awful.”
Alex nodded. “I guess we aren’t too good at this pact thing, are we?” Maria and Liz both shook their heads. “I think it’ll just take some getting used to. After all, we were the three musketeers before-we most certainly can be again.” Alex slung his arms over each of the girl’s shoulders. “Let’s go to lunch.”
~*~
It was Saturday morning and Liz hit her alarm clock off. ‘Six o’clock on a weekend? There has got to be some law against that,’ she thought to herself. Never the less, she rolled out of bed in order to get ready for work. After taking a shower and getting dressed, she ran down the stairs to the Crashdown to see if she could steal a donut or two for breakfast.
“Hey Dad.” She greeted as she walked past her father to the front counter.
“Hi, Lizzy. Ready to help with inventory?”
She nodded as she grabbed a jelly donut. “Yeah, as soon as I finish breakfast.” She stared at the donut, already feeling sick. She knew she should have a well-balanced breakfast and that she would pay for it later on in gym class... “Oh to hell with it,” she murmured to herself.
After eating the donut, however, she began to regret her decision. Liz gripped her stomach and ran to the bathroom where she threw up her breakfast.
“You okay, dear?” Her mother called from outside the bathroom.
Liz went over to the sink to wash herself up. “Yeah, I’m fine.” She stared at herself in the mirror and stuck out her tongue. ‘Yuck. I am definitely not having anymore donuts.’
Liz went out to help her father with the inventory and began counting boxes of hamburger buns. She clutched her stomach again at the thought of all that greasy food.
“Honey, are you sure you’re okay? You haven’t looked too well for the past week or so. Maybe we should go and see Dr. Matthews.” Her mother took the clipboard away from her and lifted her chin, examining Liz’s face.
Liz grabbed the clipboard back. “Mom, I’m fine. You’re making a mountain out of a mole hill.”
Her mother raised her arms above her head in exasperation. “Okay, okay. I’ll let you be for now, but if you get worse, you be sure to come to me.”
Liz nodded and gave her mom a small smile. She went back to counting hamburger buns. But now that her mom mentioned it, she realized that she had been feeling pretty bad for the last week. But it had only lasted in the morning, so she had brushed it aside. ‘Big deal. So I have morning sickness.’ She thought.
“Oh my god.” Liz sat down with her sudden realization. “I have morning sickness,” she whispered softly. It couldn’t be. She must be mistaken. Yes, that was it. Now who was making a mountain out of a mole hill? Liz gave a slight laugh. “You’re just being silly, Liz. There’s no way you could be pregnant. I mean, you only had sex once...” She trailed off. ‘Well, once is all it takes, brainiac.’
Liz’s thoughts flashed back to that fateful night she had spent with Max. It hadn’t been perfect-far from it. They had made love in an overturned bus, the night after they had rescued Max from the FBI. After Max and Liz had made a promise that they wouldn’t let destiny come between them.
Liz sighed, knowing there was only one way she was going to find out. “What am I saying? Who knows if it’ll even work?” She asked herself, referring to the pregnancy test. “They hardly know anything about themselves-so what will they know about babies? Or hybrid babies for that matter?” Liz willed herself not to cry, but when it became useless, she ran upstairs to her room and away from her mother’s questions.
“Oh god. I’m too young to be pregnant, let alone be pregnant by an alien.” She read about teenage girls who were pregnant all the time and always thought she’d never become part of the statistic. ‘Well, actually you aren’t, because I doubt those girls have to worry about their babies being half-aliens.’ “Oh god, what am I going to do?” Well, there was no use sitting around and worrying about it-because there might not even be anything to worry about. She made up her mind to go out and get a pregnancy test right away. She grabbed her purse and after composing herself headed back downstairs.
“Mom, you’re right. I don’t feel that well. So I’m gonna stop by the store and grab some medicine. Do you want me to pick you up anything? No? Okay, see you later!” She yelled as she ran out of the Crashdown. Her mother probably thought something was up, but Liz ran out before she could stop and question her.
Liz jumped in her mother’s car and started heading towards the drug store. After driving by it three times in a row, she realized there was no way she could do this alone. She made a u-turn at the next light and headed over to Maria’s.
~*~
“What do you mean you think you’re pregnant?” Maria practically yelled.
Liz clapped her hand over Maria’s mouth. “Shh! Keep it down! I don’t exactly want this to be public knowledge.”
“Don’t worry, my mom’s out picking up some deliveries. But back to you-how can you be pregnant?”
“Do I really have to explain it to you?”
“What? No! I don’t need it explained to me. What I mean is-how could you, Liz-the sensible one-have gotten pregnant?”
“We don’t even know if I’m pregnant yet-”
“Yes, but obviously you think there’s a reason to be worried. And if you’re worried then I need to be worried.”
“Oh, Maria. What am I going to do if I am pregnant? The usual options aren’t even available to me because it is...well...”
“Half-Czechoslovakian?” Maria supplied. Liz nodded and a tear escaped a corner of her eye. “Sweetie, don’t cry. Let’s at least find out if you’re even pregnant at all.” Maria pulled Liz into her bathroom and opened up a cabinet, where she pulled out a test.
Liz’s eyes widened. “Why do you-”
“It’s my mom. She’s into that whole open talk thing. Although, I doubt she’d be calm or rational if I came home pregnant. Here.” She handed Liz the box. “Just follow the directions, then we’ll go make some popcorn for the chick flick I rented. By the time the popcorn’s done, so should your test.”
Liz stared at the box in hand after Maria exited the bathroom to go make the popcorn. She opened it and out fell two tests. “I’ll just take both of them. That way, I know for sure.” After following the instructions, she went into the kitchen.
“So it’s Max’s?” Maria asked. It was pretty much a sure thing that it was, considering that not only was he the only guy Liz had been close to in the past couple of months, but he and Liz had the whole soul-mate-look-into-my-eyes-thing going on.
“Was there ever a doubt in your mind?” Liz said defeatedly. “Maria, what am I going to do if I am pregnant? I know I should tell Max, but...”
Maria nodded. “I know what you mean. Well, even if you are, you don’t have to decide everything today. Trust me you have plenty of time, in fact. You have nine months to think about it-unless of course Czechoslovakians take less time.”
“Yeah, and that’s another thing-what about that factor? We know that they’re human looking because they were mixed with human genes, but what if my baby doesn’t? And what about the entire pregnancy? Will it be like a human’s? Or a...” The timer went off and Maria pulled the popcorn out of the microwave. “I guess I better go check on my tests.” Maria jumped off the counter she had been sitting on and followed Liz back into her bedroom.
“So what does it say?”
Liz came into the room holding the two tests. “I’m pregnant.”
“Are you sure, because those things aren’t always reliable.”
“I took two tests. And...I just...I don’t know. I feel it, somehow. Oh god, Maria.” Liz sat down on the bed next to Maria.
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out.”
~*~
Maria and Liz spent the next few hours divulging themselves in romantic comedies and sob stories, hoping to forget their troubles at hand. But it was no use because Liz couldn’t forget, no matter how hard she tried. Trying to get over Max was one thing, but now with a constant reminder... Not to mention the fact that she would see him every day for the next week or so because of their history project.
“I’ve decided what I’m going to do, Maria.” Maria turned to Liz to give her full attention. “I’m not going to tell Max about the baby.”
“Are you sure, Liz? He is the father, you know.”
“I know. But he has a destiny. And he has to fulfill it. And with me and the baby in the way-well, I never got to really finish telling you the entire story about what happened in the cave. You see, Max and the others are supposed to free their planet, but there are also other aliens already among us on earth. Only they’re evil ones and can only be spotted by their evil within. So the three of them,” Liz paused and corrected herself, “The four of them have to stay focused with the problem at hand. And they can’t be bothered with other minor problems.”
“Other minor problems? Are you crazy? I know things have been kinda crazy, but Max couldn’t have changed that much since he learned his destiny. Even if he’s with Tess, I’m sure that-”
Liz began to cry and held her hand up to stop Maria. “Please Maria. It’s hard enough to deal with this pregnancy, I don’t think that-”
“No, Liz. You’re wrong. We’re all wrong. They’re still the same Max, Isabel, and...and Michael. And I know that Max still loves you. You just don’t lose that because you learn that you’re fated to save a planet. And besides, no child deserves to grow up without a father.” Maria looked down at her hands.
“Oh, Maria...I didn’t mean...I will tell Max. Just...just not now. Things are so confusing and my heart. I just don’t think that my heart could take another rejection.”
“What are you talking about Liz? You weren’t rejected-you weren’t even dumped!”
“No, I-”
Maria was beginning to cry, but fought back the tears. “No, you weren’t. Max wanted to be with you. He even told you that destiny didn’t matter to him, that he wanted to be with you. You were the one that broke things off with him. You were the one that told him that he had to follow destiny.”
“No, that’s not how it was at all!” Liz was shocked. Why was Maria doing this?
“Then tell me how it was Liz!” Maria was now slowly beginning to cry, “Because I don’t know what it’s like to have a boyfriend that so madly in love with me that he’s willing to forget all about destiny!”
“I had to let him go! I had to! Because I love him too much!” Maria’s eyes widened and then she began to sob hysterically. Liz joined in as she realized why Maria had been yelling at her. Liz slowly knelt beside Maria, who was sitting on the ground. She enveloped her in a hug and the two began to rock back and forth as they comforted each other. “I’m so sorry, Maria. It’s just that-that it hurts so much.” Liz’s voice caught in her throat.
“I know, Liz. I know because it hurts too.” Maria wiped away some of the tears lining her face. “I just don’t understand why you and Max aren’t together. You guys are soul mates-meant to be. You love each other. How can you love someone too much? I would think that if you loved someone, you would never want to let them go.”
“I don’t know how to explain it, Maria. I just know in my heart that letting Max go was the right thing.”
“Even if it hurts both of you in the process?”
Liz nodded her head. “Don’t worry, I know Michael loves you too.”
“I know. But that’s the problem. He loves me ‘too much.’ So now I’ve got to think of a way to be less lovable.” Maria cracked a small smile.
“Impossible.” Liz joked.
“Seriously though, what are you going to do? You don’t want to tell Max now, but eventually you’ll have to. So what are you going to do? Hide the pregnancy from him?”
“I guess I’ll have to.”
Maria’s mouth gaped open. “No, you can’t be serious! You can’t hide a pregnancy.”
“Well, we can try.”
“What? Are you crazy? I swear, we need to call Alex because you need massive doses of therapy. There’s no way you can hide a pregnancy. What are you going to do with all your morning sickness? I think your mom might recognize the symptoms.”
“Easy, I’ll just tell her I have the flu. But you’re right. We do have to tell Alex.”
“You are entirely way to calm about this. You need to sniff some aromatherapy oils. No wait, what am I saying? I need to sniff some aromatherapy oils!” Maria jumped up to go find her bottle of Cyprus oil.
Liz smiled as she saw Maria revert back to her semi-normal, happy self.
TBC...